Guest Melanie Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:29 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:29 PM I am the President of a very small non profit organization. We have been operating with out a Secretary since the beginning ot the year. We had elections, no one ran and we haven't had any interest in the position until recently. A month ago we had a lady volunteer to be our Secretary. I spoke with her and she agreed to come to the meeting last night. During the meeting our Treasurer decided that the board needed to discuss her appointment. (We asked her to leave the room before the discussion, thankfully.) The Treasurer was very upset because the new Secretary had basicly been appointed by me-even tho at last months meeting we discussed it as a group and everyone was in agreement. What is the rule on appointing someone to fill a seat when no one else has shown interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:36 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:36 PM Who elects the Secretary? Since no one was elected to the office you have an incomplete election which needs to be completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:38 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:38 PM What is the rule on appointing someone to fill a seat when no one else has shown interest?One rule is that you can't appoint anyone unless you've been given the authority to do so.Another rule is that, even if you do have the authority to fill vacancies, it only applies to filling "mid-term" vacancies (e.g. due to a resignation). It does not apply to "incomplete elections" which is what you have in this instance. So if you've found someone that's willing to serve, elect her in the usual manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Melanie Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:43 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 07:43 PM Thank you for your advice. We did have a motion made that she be elected to the seat, it was seconded and a vote was taken electing her to the seat. Do we need to send it out to the membership? Sadly, most of our members are elderly and trying to get anything back from them is difficult at best. But, if that is the way the rules read, we will do a mid term election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted October 16, 2012 at 08:01 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 08:01 PM I am not quite sure you understood our responses. Who do the bylaws say elects the Secretary during the regularly scheduled elections (which yours would be albeit a bit late). Whichever body that holds the regularly scheduled election would hold this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted October 16, 2012 at 08:01 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 08:01 PM Who is supposed to elect the Secretary according to your bylaws? If it's the membership, you need to conduct an election among the membership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Melanie Posted October 16, 2012 at 08:55 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 at 08:55 PM The Secretary is among those elected by membership. It sounds like we need to put it out to a vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted October 20, 2012 at 02:01 PM Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 at 02:01 PM Yep. Vacancy appointment procedures don't apply to incomplete elections. The only thing that fixes that is a completed election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trina Posted October 21, 2012 at 02:12 PM Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 at 02:12 PM I am the President of a very small non profit organization. We have been operating with out a Secretary since the beginning ot the year. We had elections, no one ran and we haven't had any interest in the position until recently. A month ago we had a lady volunteer to be our Secretary. I spoke with her and she agreed to come to the meeting last night. During the meeting our Treasurer decided that the board needed to discuss her appointment. (We asked her to leave the room before the discussion, thankfully.) The Treasurer was very upset because the new Secretary had basicly been appointed by me-even tho at last months meeting we discussed it as a group and everyone was in agreement. What is the rule on appointing someone to fill a seat when no one else has shown interest?If your elections are annual, and if it really is difficult to run a mid-term election, you might consider simply choosing your volunteer to be secretary pro tem at each of your remaining meetings this year, and then just put her name up for secretary at the regular election meeting. After all, the end of 2012 isn't that far away...This approach would mean, however, that she would not actually be a member of the board for the moment, but would simply be acting as secretary at each meeting. The election (last year's election) would still remain incomplete, as other posters have pointed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted October 21, 2012 at 02:46 PM Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 at 02:46 PM This approach would mean, however, that she would not actually be a member of the board for the moment, but would simply be acting as secretary at each meeting.Not only wouldn't she be a member of the board (though it's not entirely clear that we're talking about the board's secretary here), she wouldn't have any of the between-meetings administrative authority of the (capital "S") Secretary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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